Cn.vp. XII 1 SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



93 



terror and subjection. In addition to thirty wives, 

 he was possessed of concubines without number, 

 and had many children, but from pecuhar cir- 

 cumstances attending tlie birth of the infant Chaka, 

 it was esteemed a miraculous event, and the child 

 in consequence was held by the nation to be some- 

 thing superhuman. Advancing towards manhood 

 he did not disappoint the expectations formed of 

 him. His strength became Herculean, his disposi- 

 tion turbulent, his heart iron, his soul a warring 

 element, and his ambition boundless. 



The precocity, shrewdness, and cunning of Chaka 

 speedily attracted the notice and jealous}' of his 

 father. Knowing full well from the fate of his own 

 progenitors that amongst the Zooloos, the son, whose 

 ripening energies and developing physical powers, 

 render him capable of setting an example for his 

 subjects to imitate, experiences little difficulty in 

 dethroning his aged and grey-headed sire, whose 

 declining years render him no longer fit for feats of 

 prowess, he resolved that the young prince should 

 die, and began to plot his destruction. Discovering 

 this, Chaka fled with Umgartie, his younger and 

 illegitimate brother, to a neighbouring tribe called 

 the Umtatwas ; by whose chief, Tingiswaa, being 

 hospitably received, he soon distinguished himself 

 as well amongst the warriors by deeds of daring, as 

 bv his surpassing skill in punning and singing, both 

 of which accomplishments are held in rare estima- 

 tion — being, withthe exception of dancing, almost the 

 only amusements in which the Africans ever iudidge. 



